First Chrome 66 Build Lands in The Chrome OS Dev Channel

For the fourth consecutive week, the Chrome OS Dev Channel has received another new update. This week however, it is something new. Chrome 66 has come to the alpha channel in build version 66.0.3344.0 (Platform version: 10403.0.0).

There hasn’t been a massive amount of insight into what is going to be coming in Chrome 66 and the release notes – of which there are none for this update – didn’t shed any light. It is known that the Symantec Trust Certificates prior to June 1, 2016 will be removed. It is also expected that split-screen Android mode will be available. That feature, to this point, has been in the hidden Canary channel of the platform.

Right now the Chromium team is targeting an April 2018 release of Chrome 66 on Chrome OS so we are still a few months away. The timing however fits within the normal cadence of releases on the platform and across the Chrome browser for desktops and Android.

With this move of 66 into the Dev Channel, Chrome 65 is now firmly in the Beta channel with an expected release in March. Chrome 64 is now the stable channel release but most devices are still running on Chrome 63. A minor update to Chrome 64 is expected to be release this week or next which should roll it out to everyone.

Remember that you can always go look at what the Dev, Beta and Stable channel builds are for your particular Chrome OS device by checking the Chrome OS database.